Rabboni (sculpture)
Encyclopedia
Rabboni is a public artwork by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 artist Gutzon Borglum
Gutzon Borglum
Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum was an American artist and sculptor famous for creating the monumental presidents' heads at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, the famous carving on Stone Mountain near Atlanta, as well as other public works of art.- Background :The son of Mormon Danish immigrants, Gutzon...

, located Rock Creek Cemetery
Rock Creek Cemetery
Rock Creek Cemetery — also Rock Creek Church Yard and Cemetery — is an cemetery with a natural rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE in Washington, D.C.'s Michigan Park neighborhood, near Washington's Petworth neighborhood...

 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. "Rabboni" was surveyed as part of the Smithsonian Save Outdoor Sculpture!
Save Outdoor Sculpture!
Save Outdoor Sculpture! is a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. By fostering awareness and appreciation, SOS! aims to advocate proper care of a nationwide public resource....

 survey in 1993. It is a tribute to Charles Matthews Ffoulke, prominent Washington banker and tapestry collector.

Description

This Realism
Realism
Realism, Realist or Realistic are terms that describe any manifestation of philosophical realism, the belief that reality exists independently of observers, whether in philosophy itself or in the applied arts and sciences. In this broad sense it is frequently contrasted with Idealism.Realism in the...

 sculpture depicts a Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...

 emerging from an alcove
Alcove
Alcove , a vault) is an architectural term for a recess in a room, usually screened off by pillars, balustrades or drapery.In geography and geology, the term Alcove is used for a wind-eroded depression in the side of a cliff of a homogenous rock type, famous from sandstones of the Colorado Plateau...

 consisting of three granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 blocks that surround her. Dressed in long robes and a cape which covers her head, her proper right hand is raised to lift the cape from her head. Her proper left arm is extended outward in front of her. Her proper right leg is stepping forward, to recognize Jesus Christ has risen from his tomb on Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...

.

The lower right of the sculpture is signed: Gutzon Borglum Sc / Gorham Co.

The front of the sculptures base is inscribed: RABBONI

On the back of the center granite piece is a upper bronze plaque which is inscribed:
THE END OF BIRTH IS DEATH
THE END OF DEATH IS LIFE AND
WHERFOR MOURNEST THOU


A lower bronze plaque is inscribed:
IN MEMORY OF
Charles Mather Ffoulke
1841-1909
Sarah Cushing
His Wife
1852-1926
AND THEIR CHILDREN
HORACE CUSHING FFOULKE
1876-1903
GWENDOLINE FFOULKE
CHARLES MATHER FFOULKE II
1889-1912
AND
HORACE CUSHING
BELOVED FATHER OF SARAH CUSHING
1819-1865

Information

The title of this piece, "Rabboni," is the Hebrew form of rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

. Upon seeing the resurrected Christ, Magdalene calls him "Rabboni," per this Bible passage:

Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. (KJV)

External links

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